States Pushing For Web Sales-Tax Collection

by W. Gardner

Momentum is building for level sales taxes on Internet retail purchases, as 18 states prepare to nudge online retailers to collect taxes on items purchased over the Web.

In the wake of a meeting of the Streamlined Sales Tax Project (SSTP) in Chicago last week, tax representatives from states participating in the effort have been encouraging retailers to collect sales taxes.

"This is still all-voluntary," said Dick Eppleman of tax software supplier Vertex. "There is still no mandate to collect taxes on remote sales whether they are for the Internet or for catalog sales. But it's a big step along a long road."

Some 40 states have been meeting since 2000 in an effort to hammer out an agreement to create some semblance of uniformity in the collection of sales taxes on remote sales, particularly sales across state lines. The decision of 12 states to create a uniform approach to the collection of taxes is considered something of a breakthrough.

The states comprising the leadership of the SSTP, which are working towards sales tax uniformity are: Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota and West Virginia with New Jersey in the process of joining that group. Associate members close to participating are Arkansas, North Dakota, Ohio, Tennessee, Utah and Wyoming.

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